Wednesday afternoon we somehow managed to lose a field book with three days' worth of level notes in it. It's bad enough that we have to redo it, but that was some really excellent quality work and it really pains me to see it disappear without a trace.
I'm going to assume since you used the 'Lindbergian' we, you somehow feel somewhat culpable...Otherwise you probably would have indicated someone who bears the brunt of the guilt. That's tough to lose that much work.
Oh well, spilt milk. Get back out there and run it again!
Lee D, post: 348606, member: 7971 wrote: Wednesday afternoon we somehow managed to lose a field book with three days' worth of level notes in it. It's bad enough that we have to redo it, but that was some really excellent quality work and it really pains me to see it disappear without a trace.
Rest assured it will definitely show up again. It will reappear (from my vast experience and knowledge) either the same day you finish re-running the vertical work or the very next day.
Good luck and sorry to hear of your lost book.
I don't work in the field much, but this was a special case and I was one man on a three man crew. I wasn't the one keeping the book, but I do feel some culpability that we managed to lose it.
I have had this nagging feeling all fall that this is going to happen too. While witnessing corners I started taking pictures of the monuments, then a picture of the book page when done as well. Figured if I loose the book, at least I should have my phone and can salvage the notes. Not an option for lots of book leveling, but just wanted to let you know I'm with you. I just can't shake this feeling.
Lee D, post: 348606, member: 7971 wrote: Wednesday afternoon we somehow managed to lose a field book with three days' worth of level notes in it. It's bad enough that we have to redo it, but that was some really excellent quality work and it really pains me to see it disappear without a trace.
"Field book" suggests optical versus digital. Really, 3 days of optical levels? Why on earth would anyone do that nowadays?
Lee D, post: 348612, member: 7971 wrote: I don't work in the field much, but this was a special case and I was one man on a three man crew. I wasn't the one keeping the book, but I do feel some culpability that we managed to lose it.
Trust me, that's not the only field book that probably got laid down on the truck bumper and forgotten. I've lost a few myself.
I did set a field book down on a bumper once, with an HP11C on top of it. 5 miles down the highway I remember it and quickly pulled over. That time it was still there. I think the calculator kept it weighed down!
paden cash, post: 348620, member: 20 wrote: Trust me, that's not the only field book that probably got laid down on the truck bumper and forgotten. I've lost a few myself.
I did set a field book down on a bumper once, with an HP11C on top of it. 5 miles down the highway I remember it and quickly pulled over. That time it was still there. I think the calculator kept it weighed down!
My first boss tells the story of the time he was following one of his crews up an on-ramp and saw the Husky FS2 slide off the roof of the crew's jeep and go skidding out into two lanes of truck traffic. They had been on the road for a week surveying proposed cell tower sites with no ability to download in the field so the value of the DC was dwarfed by the value of the data inside. The boss skidded to a stop on the shoulder and ran out into traffic to rescue the DC before a truck could smash it. The keys were ground off the keyboard by the asphalt but the data was intact.
Based on that story and the threats of bodily harm if any one of us ever lost another piece of equipment off the top of the truck; I never put anything on the hood, the roof, or anywhere else that can result in loss or damage if forgotten. I don't even lean equipment against the tailgate or put equipment close enough to the truck to be run over if someone moves the truck.
It's a level loop that's mostly over water, the sights are too long to uses a digital level. And even if that wasn't the case, most of the sights are too obstructed by things like scaffolding to use a digital level. Believe me, I'm the last person on Earth who would use a conventional level if a digital level would work.
In the 1960s my party chief left his aluminum field note book with a festoon of note pages in it on a railway track in Agincourt, Ontario.
After lunch when we came back, lo and behold, a scattering of bits of pages all over the place.
Most of the field note information was recovered and we were happy campers.
As far as using digital rather than paper, it depends.
My pencil has yet to run out of battery power and hand field notes while not perfect, can be read years later to find out whys and how comes.
Early in my career I was taught, by different people on different occassions, to never
- lean anything on the truck
- leave anything on any part of the truck or it's immediate vicinity
- leave doors open when not actively putting things in or taking things out of said door.
Memories!
One dates back to about 1990. I was in bed for the night looking out the window at the snow that had just begun to fall. I was happy because I had finished up a certain project that really needed to happen before bad weather set in. My silly brain told me to go check my notes about something specific so I could rest easier. Oh, oh! Where is the field book? Not where it should be. Make a quick dash to the chariot. No luck. So where on Earth is it????? Put the old grey cells in reverse trying to remember the last time I definitely had it in my hands. Ccccrrrraaaappp!!!! I remembered tossing it down on the grass in the road ditch while we did something else for a couple of minutes. Back in the house. Pulling on clothes and shoes. Fire up the chariot and drive about 15 miles one way to find it laying precisely where I had dropped it about six hours earlier. Had a nice coating of snow about 3/8 inch think on it. Whew!!!
Norman Oklahoma, post: 348675, member: 9981 wrote: Early in my career I was taught, by different people on different occassions, to never
- lean anything on the truck
- leave anything on any part of the truck or it's immediate vicinity
- leave doors open when not actively putting things in or taking things out of said door.
You are a blessed man to rely on what you were "taught"....
Like a lot of surveyors that suffer from ADD-OLSS (attention deficit diso....oh look! somethin' shiny!") I too was taught similar field procedures. But I am apparently proud of the fact that at one time I didn't know any better...so I like to do stuff wrong every now and then just to make sure I still don't know how..:pinch:
I hate being bipolar. It's awesome!
I hate it when I do that. Grab that Strat & play some blues. It won't get your notes back (pun unintended), but you'll feel better.
It was my turn to oops today. I parked the truck near my creek cross-section jobsite, loaded everything into my handcart, wheeled it down to my first setup, setup the instrument, inflated and launched the kayak, then turned on the data collector to get a backsight. Except the data collector blinked on and then off, and wouldn't come on again. After much wrangling and a long conversation with Carlson support, the conclusion was that the batteries were dead. So I got to haul out the kayak, pack it up, put away the gun, load up the handcart, wheel it back to the truck, load everything in the truck and go back to the office to plug in the data collector. Once at the office I aslo had to clean and dry the kayak, since I don't want to put it away wet. That takes another half an hour.
All in all, it's been a very unproductive day.
The Surveyor+ will hold a charge for many days *if* I remember to turn the bluetooth radio off. If I don't remember to turn it off when I'm done the batteries will drain after a day or so.
Might just do that!
ADD is the reason most of my posts are so long. I have a point to make, start heading in that direction and then another point comes to mind, go in that direction, thence to another point, thence along an example to yet another point, thence continuing along said example to a principle, thence with said principle until you get to an old war story, thence meandering with said old war story...
.... What the hell was I talking about? Oh yeah, thence to the point of beginning, containing 9,900 characters more or less.
Oh yeah, the thread was about losing field notes. I've done that.
Sounds like you've had a day similar to mine. Lost my hard drive yesterday with six months of jobs I didn't have backed up. Kept meaning to do it, but kept putting it off. Luckily only a few were active and all my other active jobs were on the cloud. Hopefully I can send it off and get salvage some of the data. Anyone know anyone who can do this?
